Autumn King Seedless Grapes: Big and
Luscious!

Plump, sweet and delicious Autumn King seedless grapes may soon become
a favorite fresh-fruit snack for fall. This new, light-greentechnically
known as "white"grape from Agricultural
Research Service plant geneticists in California is firm, juicy and ready
to harvest in late October.

That's about the time the U.S. harvest of another white seedless
grape, summertime classic Thompson Seedless, is winding down.

What's more, Autumn King stays firm and sweet in cold storage, meaning
that it may be available through late December.

The attractive, amply-sized grape is larger than Thompson Seedless,
according to ARS horticulturist
David
W. Ramming, who developed the grape over nearly a decade of research and
testing. He worked in collaboration with plant technician Ronald L. Tarailo.
Both are with the agency's
San
Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center near Parlier, Calif.

Autumn King, patented by the scientists and licensed to the
industry-sponsored California
Table Grape Commission, Fresno, was made available for the first time last
year for grapevine nurseries to sublicense. So far, sublicensees havein
allgrown more than 100,000 young Autumn King grapevines for planting in
central California's commercial vineyards, where most of the nation's
fresh-market grapes are grown.

Fruit from these vines may begin showing up in supermarket produce
sections within two to three years.

Autumn King joins the series of superior white, red and blue-black
fresh-market and raisin grapes that the expert Parlier team has developed. Some
of those grapesthough not Autumn Kinggot their start in life from a
laboratory technique called embryo rescue. Ramming was the first to
successfully apply, and refine, the technique specifically for breeding
seedless grapes.

Plant physiologist
Richard
L. Emershad of Ramming's group carries out the procedure. He carefully
excises undersized, otherwise-doomed embryos that result when two seedless
grapes parent a new seedless offspring. Then he nurtures embryos on a gel of
special nutrients until they form a plant that's ready for the greenhouse and,
later, the vineyard.